Slovenia's beekeeping, Lipizzaner UNESCO bids get first nod
Paris, 1 November - Slovenia's bids to get beekeeping and Lipizzaner horse breeding on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity have received positive assessments from the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The final decisions will be made at the of November.
Ljubljana
The Carniolan honey bee native to Slovenia.
Photo: STA
Lipica
Lipizzaner horses.
Photo: Daniel Novakovic/STA
In its report released on Monday, the committee's evaluation body described both nominations as good examples, the Slovenian Culture Ministry has announced.
As both bids were filed in March 2021, Slovenia said that the nomination of beekeeping was a reflection of the wealth of this tradition in Slovenia and that it was rooted in ecological, sustainable and social aspects of beekeeping.
Slovenia also renewed its nomination of Lipizzaner horse breeding at the time, filing it once again on behalf of eight countries with this tradition - Slovenia, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Slovakia.
The report from UNESCO says that the beekeeping bid notes the links between intangible heritage and environmental sustainability, while the nomination of the Lipizzaner breeding traditions was a close cooperation of the eight initiating countries in the spirit of mutual understanding.
The final decisions on the entry to the list will be made at the 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee, which will be hosted by Morocco between 28 November and 3 December in Rabat.
The beekeeping nomination proposal, titled Beekeeping in Slovenia, A Way of Life, highlights the prevalence of beekeeping skills and practices that have been handed down from generation to generation.
Beekeeping plays an important social and cultural role in Slovenian communities, "which plants it in the realm of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage," the ministry said at the time.
As for the world-famous white horses, the ministry said the bid included a broad spectrum of cultural and social practices, knowledge and skills, as well as oral traditions, celebrations and equestrian sports related to Lipizzaner breeding.
This type of horse has held a symbolic role in all eight countries for centuries, it is a symbol of many communities and a vital part of local celebrations, it added.
Slovenia has so far seen four examples of its heritage listed on the UNESCO's representative list - the Škofja Loka Passion Play, the Shrovetide Kurentovanje custom, bobbin lace making, and dry stone walling as part of the international inscription.